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Jury To Continue Deliberation

A Sebastian County jury will return today and resume deliberation in the case of a Van Buren man charged with two counts of second-degree sexual assault and one count of attempted rape involving a minor female.

Leonard Leon Bean, 66, is accused of twice forcing the girl to touch his genitals through his clothes and trying to force her to perform oral sex on him, sometime in 2006 or 2007.

Jurors deliberated for about 90 minutes Wednesday before telling Circuit Court Judge Michael Fitzhugh shortly before 5 p.m. that they wanted to go home for the evening and return this morning to resume deliberations.

The state rested its case Wednesday morning after playing a 30-minute interview of Bean being questioned by Christina Thurby, a former Van Buren Police detective, in April 2009.

After initially denying any inappropriate contact with the girl, Bean admitted they touched each other in a sexual manner, although he described the girl as the aggressor who would guide his hand “all the time” and “put it on spots.”

Bean told Thurby he didn’t know who to turn to for help and assumed no one would believe him.

After Bean admitted inappropriate contact, Thurby told him she still didn’t believe he was telling her the entire truth.

Bean steadfastly denied throughout the interview any activity that would constitute attempted rape.

Van Buren attorney Ray Hodnett, representing Bean, told jurors in his closing statement that Bean was going through “pure hell” because he knew no one would believe him and no one could help him.

With regard to the statement Bean gave to Thurby, Hodnett said the fact the girl touched Bean in a sexual manner wasn’t a crime, unless there was evidence he enjoyed it.

Hodnett also attacked the girl’s credibility, reminding jurors that a former elementary school teacher who taught her and two relatives testified Wednesday the girl lied more than she told the truth and highlighted inconsistencies among statements she gave to police and her testimony on Tuesday.

During her first statement to investigators in 2009, the girl didn’t mention Bean’s trying to force her to perform oral sex, Hodnett said.

Deputy prosecutor Aaron Jennen told jurors the inconsistencies resulted from unrehearsed testimony and a child sexual abuse victim’s tendency to reveal more about their abuse as time goes on.

In the past new disclosures by child victims cast greater doubt on their allegations, Det. Kris Deason, Fort Smith Police, testified Tuesday. But, she said, what’s been learned over time is that as children realize they aren’t in trouble and did nothing wrong, they’re more comfortable revealing more about their abuse.

Jennen also attacked Bean’s credibility based on his statement to Thurby and testimony from his wife, Delano Bean, who took the stand Wednesday.

Delano Bean testified she and her husband have separate bedrooms and haven’t been intimate in probably 20 years because health problems left him impotent.

In his statement played for the jury, Leonard Bean said he was “pretty well impotent” but later revealed he had pornographic magazines in his bedroom and said it was possible the girl saw him gratifying himself in his room.

Jennen also told jurors Leonard Bean wasn’t believable when he told Thurby he didn’t know if he and the girl performed a particular sexual act. Jennen said a person knows if they’ve performed the sexual act with a child that Thurby questioned Leonard Bean about.

Leonard Bean used the lack of intimacy in his marriage to justify his inappropriate relationship with a minor, Jennen said.

The investigation into Bean originated in Van Buren, when the girl told her friend about the abuse and then they told her friend’s father, who reported it to authorities.

Bean was charged with rape in Crawford County, involving the same accuser in the Sebastian County case, and was acquitted following a two-day jury trial in April 2010.

Attempted rape is a Class A felony punishable by five to 30 years in prison, while second-degree sexual assault is a Class B felony punishable by five to 20 years in prison.

In his last comment before the jury began deliberations, Jennen said “we all know” what happened, and it came down to common sense in determining who was the aggressor, a man in his 60s or an elementary school-aged child.